What a gold mine! I was delighted, and wrote down these top five words to learn:

# 5Crepuscular Rays: those shining-through-the-clouds sunbeams that look like God is about to drop round.

#4Gynecomastia: heehee, manboobs!

#3Semantic Satiation: saying a word over and over till it loses its meaning.

#2Phosphenes: the little lights you see when you scrunch your eyes up tight.

And coming in at first place is ……*drumroll*…….Mondegreen!

What the heck is a Mondegreen? Don’t google it yet, I’ll tell you.

Mondegreen is the official term for a misheard and misinterpreted lyric, that gives the song a brand new meaning. The mix-up is usually caused by how similar the two phrases sound – how “homophonous” they are, in uppity twat language. Children are particularly gifted at coming up with Mondegreens. I remember in the mid 90’s, my youngest sister Nooma belting out Peter Frampton in the car.

Not that I was mondegreen free, mind you… I have very vivid memories of giggling my head off with my best friend Josh, as we jumped on his bed to Michael Jackson.

“I’ve never been so in love before, I want you baby right down in my applecore!”

Probably the most famous mondegreen is the line “Excuse me while I kiss the sky” from Purple Haze by Jimmy Hendrix. Indeed, the mondegreen became so well known that Jimmy often used to sing the misheard lyrics in his live performances.
One fan remembers seeing Hendrix perform at the Ambassador Theatre, Washington D.C. in 1967. When the line came, Jimmy lifted his hand, pointed to bass player Noel Redding and grinned as he sang